Interview with Andrea Marinelli Part 1

Good evening, folks! Free Park Corner is back after a long ( too long!) pause. I moved ro London in the meantime , planning to find some place in the media industry but i will keep on providing news, reportages and interviews from my new headquarter!

So, let’s start this Free Park Corner new season with Andrea Marinelli, an Italianfreelance journalist based in New York and contributor of media such as Il Giornale, Corriere.it, IL e Rivista Studio. Andrea has described the 2012 US elections, while he was crossing the country by bus, hitch-hiking and Couchsurfing in a journey that has originated his book L’ ospite. Andrea’s second odissey in the U.S, has been focused instead on the public opinion’s view towards the Supreme Court’s historical sentence on gay marriage. In order to realize this journey, the journalist has used the crowdfunding instrument, with the support of the readers of his blog, TradingPost, recently transfered on the Corriere.it. Enjoy the interview and ,if you will be in Mantova for the Festivaletteratura next Thursday September 5th don’t miss the panel KAPUŚCIŃSKI LOW COST, with Andrea Marinelli, Francesco Costa andJordi Pérez Colomé!

Your coast to coast journey’s aim was the one of analyzing the public opinion’s view about the historical Supreme Court sentence on gay marriage. Which idea have you developed about the ‘American county’ and how has this journey been different from the one described in your book “L’ ospite”?

While the first journey was a pursuit of the primary U.S elections’ candidates and it consequently had a certain rhytim and milestones, the second has been a more wandering one, during which I got carried by the stories I encountered, the instinct and the events . I have started to notice in the last months, from New York, a change in the homosexuality’s perception in this country. I started to have the impression that, also thanks to gay celebrities’ media presence, the American county was starting to accept homosexuality . I have started my journey for this reason, in order to understand what was happening , to meet America and write about this historical turning. I had many suprises during the journey, but my sensation is that this social change has begun. The Supreme Court’s sentence has just interpreted the people’s feeling and has increased the debate on same sex marriage.

As an Italian living in the States, what’s your view on the Italian rights’ debate?

I believe that in Italy we often miss the point , and that the debate stands still at a different level.

The Supreme Court’s sentence has been an historical page ,but it has also originated some radical positions such as Indiana’s one. After your journey, what is your view concerning this path’s future evolutions?

According to me, the Supreme Court’s sentence has been able to interpretate the popular will. Not everyone in the U.S is in favour of gay marriage, but this has been the upteenth step of a social process begun in the last years. For sure, there will keep on appearing contrasting and dividing positions, but at a federal level, a fundamental phase has been reached. The dualism between State and Federal Government is actually the matter. The decision on the californian Proposition 8 has been the example: in order not to interfere in the single states’ affairs, the Supreme Court has refered the decision to a local tribunal, actually opening the road for gay marriage. The federal government will therefore try not to affect the single states’ legislation , but i believe that the affair will be solved with an encirclement strategy. Some States, the more conservative ones, will keep on withstanding as long as possible, but in the long run they will have to adapt to the new context. Many people that I have met during my journey were confident that within years, same sex marriage will be legal in the whole country.